The weaponisation of football dreams in human trafficking scheme

This Brief Report highlights how football dreams (i.e., soccer) are weaponised to traffic youth within West Africa. Framed as an athletic opportunity, the operation exploited the Economic Community of West African States’ visa-free protocols, digital platforms, and the powerful appeal of sport-based mobility. Victims were confined, stripped of documentation, and coerced into soliciting funds from family members, with their phones repurposed to perpetrate further scams. While trafficking for forced criminality has gained visibility in Southeast Asia, this case marks a critical yet underexplored intra-African iteration, shaped by the symbolic economy of football. It challenges siloed policy frameworks that treat sport aspiration and cybercrime in West Africa as separate domains. Policy contribution (UN SDG 16): By exposing how sport-linked dreams are weaponised to exploit youth, this report contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 16: promoting just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. It calls for stronger regional coordination and targeted awareness campaigns across the sport and youth sectors.